Scaled-back Lucas museum plans may put lawsuit in jeopardy

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas selected Chicago for his future museum after being offered a prime lakefront parcel that now is home to two parking lots south of Soldier Field.

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas selected Chicago for his future museum after being offered a prime lakefront parcel that now is home to two parking lots south of Soldier Field. (Alex Garcia, Chicago Tribune)

A revised proposal for the Lucas museum along Chicago's lakefront, including a scaled-back building design, expanded green space and a new parking structure on the west side of Lake Shore Drive, was revealed Thursday during a hearing in federal court on the lawsuit challenging the proposal.

The new "ground lease agreement" between the Chicago Park District and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art forces Friends of the Parks, the nonprofit preservation group suing to block the project, to recalibrate its lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge John Darrah said the new ground lease agreement means, "in my judgment, you don't have a viable complaint."

"You don't have anything filed challenging this," Darrah said. "It appears the basis for your complaint as presented by you has been superseded."

Filmmaker George Lucas selected Chicago for the location of his museum last year after also considering San Francisco. The city offered 17 acres of lakefront land now occupied by two parking lots, and the Park District signed a preliminary agreement with Lucas in September.

Friends of the Parks filed a lawsuit to block the project in November, arguing the museum violates the state's public trust doctrine because it will be built on the submerged waters of Lake Michigan — it was filled in during the 1920s — and that the privately held museum will ruin the city's lakefront and is not in residents' best interests.

The new proposed agreement calls for a 25 percent reduction in the overall size of the museum, from the seven-story 400,000 square feet envisioned in the original plan, which was unveiled in late 2014, to the current plan calling for "up to" 300,000 square feet. It is not known what elements of the original design have been cut to achieve this reduction.

The ground lease agreement says the city and Park District will lease the lakefront land between Soldier Field and McCormick Place to Lucas for $10. The term is for 99 years and can be renewed. The museum will house a collection of paintings, digital and cinematic art and provide space for "traveling exhibitions featuring world-renowned artists and filmmakers."

In what appears to be a nod to open-space advocates, the new agreement also details a plan for nearly 4.6 acres of new parkland plus improvements to existing open space in the surrounding area. The parkland will include a garden, an "eco-park," a dune field "that reflects the natural landscape of the Lake Michigan Shoreline" and an "event prairie," which will host arts and film events. Construction on the project would begin no sooner than March 1.

Tribune graphics

Tribune graphics

The surface parking lot that the museum and new parkland would replace occupies 17 acres.

The museum and development of the surrounding land will be constructed with private funds, according to the preliminary agreement. There is no cost estimate for the new building plans. The previous version of the project was tabbed at more than $300 million.

Separately, people who have been briefed by the Lucas camp on the revised design for the museum say it retains the mountainlike profile of the original design, but has more windows.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is a vocal supporter of the Lucas project, which would become another element of the lakefront Museum Campus that already includes the Field Museum, the Adler Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium, as well as the newly opened park on Northerly Island.

The site was offered to Lucas by Emanuel. The proposal needs approval from the Park District board, which will allow the public to review the agreement and comment on the plan. The city's Plan Commission and City Council also must approve it.

The lawsuit as filed is directed toward the initial "memorandum of understanding" agreement between the city, Park District and Lucas representatives. Following a series of court hearings, Darrah has allowed the lawsuit to continue, but his statements Thursday indicated the suit as currently filed is on shaky ground. The judge gave Friends of the Parks 21 days to modify the lawsuit and also set a new court date for Nov. 10.

With a detailed ground lease in place, Darrah said Friends of the Parks needs to address the new superseding document. Darrah also said state legislation approved in April needs to be better addressed in the lawsuit. The legislation addressed a key element of Friends of the Parks' lawsuit and also cleared a path for the Obama presidential library project to head to Chicago, clarifying that the city has the ability to build facilities on parkland, including "formerly submerged land."

Law experts at the time were split on whether the action in Springfield undercut the lawsuit against the Lucas museum plans.

After the hearing, Friends of the Parks interim Executive Director Lauren Moltz said the new ground lease and the judge's words did not change the group's objections to the museum. Moltz said the museum will tarnish the city's lakefront, preventing people from enjoying one of the finest gems Chicago has to offer.

"You can't set a precedent where a private individual is able to open up a museum on public parkland," Moltz said.

Friends of the Parks attorney Michael Persoon questioned why the museum needs to be built on the lakefront east of Lake Shore Drive, when the new ground lease outlines a parking facility on property to the west. Friends of the Parks has argued the museum is better suited for another location away from the lakeshore, but the city and Lucas have not provided alternate options and are intent on the lakefront property.

The ground lease says Lucas or an affiliate will contribute $40 million for a new parking facility, with at least 1,500 spaces, that would be built west of Lake Shore Drive by the Park District. The parking facility would replace spaces in the surface parking lot, known as the South Lot, where the museum would be built.

Tailgating Bears fans and concertgoers at Soldier Field use the existing parking structure where the museum would be built, and losing that parking was voiced as a concern by at least one state lawmaker in the spring. The proposed agreement says there will be "blackout periods" when the event prairie space may be reserved for parking purposes.

Darrah ruled in March that Friends of the Parks "plausibly states a claim that the agreement violates the public trust doctrine." But on Thursday, after one of the attorneys for the city, Park District and Lucas side said, "We obviously agree completely with what you've said," Darrah responded, "That's because it sounds like you're winning."